Day 55. The last beginning of the summer.

Before I get into the details of today let me first say that as you might notice (or might not have until I said it) that I'm about a week behind... So for the next few days the details may or may not be entirely accurate. During camp I have a very weak connection to actual time passing.. so some things that I say happened on a certain day may or may not have happened on that day. They did happen at some point this week. 

That having been said... 

Monday began with training, there was just a few snippets left to get out of the way before the kids started arriving. It was also outlined that this week would be a bit different and all activities would be 2 hours long. This isn't a new thing for us down at the horses but it was a bit different for everyone else. The idea behind it is to free up time so the kids can more reliably be on time for activities. We'll see how it turns out.. but it seems like a good idea. 

The kids started arriving shortly before lunch and we had two rides head out in the afternoon. This week I had 2 guys helping me out and despite being 15 and 16 respectively they really did a great job with getting rides out and keeping the kids safe today. One of them has been with me all summer and continues to do a great job leading the line and helping with groundwork, and the other was totally new to our crew this week and helped interact with the kids. I've been very happy with my crew all summer long and this week appears to be no exception. 

Also another advantage to the slightly different schedule this week is that afternoon activities (and dinner) are half an hour later. The supreme advantage of this is that after lunch we actually get a wee break and today I used that window to take a short nap. I haven't had the need or time to take many naps at all this summer but I was so exhausted today that I just needed to stop for a moment. 

umm... I think that's it for monday... 

-Nick

Day 54. Sunday is a fun day?

Sunday morning began with the perhaps unwise decision to attend the early service at church (one we were only 10 minutes late for). I say unwise because it seemed logical that I could take a nap after church and before training (I did get one but it was only about 7 minutes).

After church we moved the heaviest television imaginable... Consider the character of atlas if you would... now replace the world with a television. That was this TV. After shifting the earth under the TV (it was easier than moving that stupid thing) we went to pizza! [take a wild guess who picked the place :)] From pizza we went and moved a refreshingly light couch to the same place as the TV... The crazy heavy tv that will make a fantastic door barricade should the zombies come.

From there it was back to camp for staff prayer and the beginning of another round of training. (which went fairly well). I don't know everyone's names this week... but I only lost my sanity once during the process, and it was quickly relocated.

After training it was sleepytime! yaay sleepytime! and thus began monday.

-Nick

Day 53. Saturday night's alright?

Saturday was a very chill day (so relaxed I even forgot to post)

The day began at about 7am... when our dear old camp grandpa greeted many people with his typical enthusiasm. The only problem with that is... he was doing it in the main hall which greatly amplified his already booming voice. Still you might be wondering why this is a problem... well... that main hall mentioned has a few rooms and such things that open into it. one of these rooms (seperated by a very much NOT soundproof wall) is the boys staff dorm. yep, you guessed it... the place I had been until just then been very happily sleeping.

I awoke but lacking the necessary motivation and social skills to see people (especially those whom were responsible for waking me up, or those who had encouraged it) I decided to read my book for a bit, and turns out that when I've got a chance I burn through good books... So not only have I finished with the name of the wind (which I mentioned earlier this summer) I have also finished book 2, the wise mans fear. Both good books and I highly recommend them to adult readers.

After finishing my book I ventured out into the now quiet main hall for some breakfast and discovered that at some point the population of camp had been reduced to myself, the Scottish brothers, the dreaded one, the lady of the dreaded one, and the child of the lady of the dreaded one. We were also joined by the mr. and mrs. captain before long, and at some point the parents of chaos and little chaos joined us as well. (the names have been slightly obscured to protect the innocent. and to amuse myself)

The day that followed was wonderfully unstructured and involved (in no particular order) shooting shotguns, mtn dew, good conversation, ham sandwiches, a nap, no less than 5 bowls of cereal, another good conversation, more mountain dew, a round of age of conquerors, and listening to the brave soundtrack.

it was great!

-Nick